‘Apple Cars’ To Add Street View Images To Maps

Michael Moore joined TechWeek Europe in January 2014 as a trainee before graduating to Reporter later that year. He covers a wide range of topics, including but not limited to mobile devices, wearable tech, the Internet of Things, and financial technology.

Company vehicles to hit the street in an effort to keep up with Google Maps

Apple has revealed it will be adding ‘street view’ images to its Apple Maps app as part of a major drive to improve the service.

The company says it will be sending out a fleet of “Apple Maps vehicles” across the UK between June 15 and 30.

The initial areas covered by the Apple Maps vehicles includes London and Essex, parts of Surrey and Kent, and major areas in the West Midlands such as Birmingham and Solihull, as well as areas in Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent and Surrey, with the cars also others will begin capturing images in parts of Ireland and the US.

On track

In keeping with its rival, Google Maps, (whose Street View car is pictured left) the images captured by the vehicles will blur out faces and car licence plates in order to ensure privacy, with Apple saying it was, “committed to protecting your privacy while collecting this data”.

“Apple is driving vehicles around the world to collect data which will be used to improve Apple Maps,” the company said on its website. “Some of this data will be published in future Apple Maps updates.”

This latter sentence refers to the next edition of Apple Maps, set to be released as part of iOS 9 later this year, offering public transport directions in the UK for the first time as part of a new Transit system.

Apple took the wraps off its latest mobile operating system earlier this week, also revealing features such as a more powerful Spotlight search, a more intelligent Siri and enhanced iPad capabilities, particularly in the area of multi-tasking.